Updates Re: Murder Trial of Chuck Long II

[Anonymous]

The 3 drill instrucors that also beat kids at Long's camp have all plead guilt, and will be sentenced at 10am May 13, by Judge Reinstein.

[Anonymous]

Boot camp director gets 6-year prison sentence
 
02:12 PM Mountain Standard Time on Tuesday, May 24, 2005
 

Staff and wire reports
 


The director of a boot camp for troubled youth was sentenced to six years in prison today for the death of a 14-year-old sent to the camp by his mother.

Charles Long, director of the America's Buffalo Soldiers Re-enactors Association boot camp, was charged with second-degree murder in the July 2001 death of Anthony Haynes, but the jury instead convicted him of a lesser charge of reckless manslaughter in January.

He was also convicted of aggravated assault, but the jury deadlocked on eight counts of child abuse in the 3 1/2-month-long trial.

Haynes' mother, Melanie Hudson, said she was grateful for the verdict.

"It won't bring Tony back," she said, but it provides closure more than three years after his death.

Investigators said Haynes, who attended Long's "tough love" camp near Buckeye, died of complications of dehydration and near-drowning after he collapsed at the desert camp in triple-digit heat.

Two camp supervisors put him in a bathtub with the shower running at a motel near the camp to cool down. They found him face down in the water and called Long.

Long, 59, was accused of telling the supervisors to bring Haynes, who wasn't responding, back to the camp.

Long maintained the allegations against him were false, and his attorney argued parents knew what the camp entailed. They were given pamphlets that described the camp as a "no-nonsense, in-your-face, tough-love operation."

Attorney JoAnn Garcia also argued that Hudson, who paid $2,000 to send the teen to the camp after he was caught shoplifting and slashed her tires, failed to tell camp operators that Haynes had a medical condition requiring him to drink more water and to have access to shade.

Prosecutors said the camp's regimen included wearing black uniforms in triple-digit temperatures, harsh discipline and sleeping on cement slabs in sleeping bags in sweltering heat.

The camp was shut down after the teen's death.

Long was facing a minimum five-year sentence on the aggravated assault charge but could face up to 15 years. He faces another four to 10 years on the manslaughter conviction.

SIX years....not nearly enough.

[Anonymous]

6 years is the longest punishment I've seen so far.  With the death of Aaron Bacon - most responsible had to do a few months of community service and only one did any jail time - and that is because he refused to plead to a lesser charge and went to trial where a jury convicted him.  
This is great news. To get a longer sentence - those close to Tony need to ask for it....

[Anonymous]

Here's from the Superior Court News Flash:
SUPERIOR COURT NEWS FLASHES
 
Tuesday, May 24
Charles Long Sentencing

Judge Ronald Reinstein sentenced Charles Long to:

Count 1-- Reckless Manslaughter
6 years in prison

Count 2 -- Aggravated Assault
5 years in prison

These two counts will run concurrently.

[Anonymous]

From the Arizona Republic


Boot-camp counselor gets 4 months in jail in boy's death

Michael Kiefer
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 22, 2005 12:00 AM

A camp counselor was sentenced Tuesday in Maricopa County Superior Court to four months in jail and three years probation for the 2001 death of a troubled teen at a tough-love boot camp near Buckeye. And three other counselors were sentenced to jail and probation for child abuse inflicted on other campers during a weeklong desert ordeal.

In the summer of 2001, Troy Hutty, 33, brought his two children from Philadelphia to attend a camp run by America's Buffalo Soldiers Re-Enactors Association. Most campers were troubled teens brought to the tough-love camp by desperate parents or referred there by counselors or law enforcement. Hutty came on vacation.

The camp's director, Charles Long, directed Hutty to bring four youths to a hotel for a shower to cool off, including Anthony Haynes, a 14-year-old who had been acting erratically.
Haynes was placed unconscious in the tub and nearly drowned. Instead of calling paramedics, Hutty brought the boy back to the camp, where he died of complications of near drowning and dehydration.

Prosecutors allowed Hutty to plead guilty to negligent homicide in exchange for his testimony against Long. In January, a jury found Long guilty of manslaughter and aggravated assault, and in May, he was sentenced to six years in prison.

Haynes' mother and grandmother asked Judge Ronald Reinstein to send Hutty to jail.

"Next week will be four years since I lost my baby," said the mother, Melanie Hudson, "and it could have been prevented by dialing three numbers."

Prosecutor Mark Barry asked that Hutty be sent to jail for a year. "He was the lone adult in that situation," Barry said. "He could have made that call to help that young man, and he didn't."

Earlier in the day, Reinstein sentenced three other counselors for child abuse convictions unrelated to Haynes' death that took place when Long was away from the camp. Some youngsters were spanked with a boot sole, punched and kicked and made to eat mud, among other allegations. All three pleaded guilty.

Ray Burr Anderson, 22, was sentenced to six months in jail and three years of probation. Matthew Fontenot, 21, was sentenced to a year in jail and three years probation. And Sirveorge Jones, 20, received three years probation and the time he has already served in jail because he could not afford to post bond, 578 days.

FYI --- Dateline NBC is taping jurors next week...